Melancholy of Being Shinobi
by Kamide
Summary: Yugao's story of how she joined the Anbu, fell in love with Hayate, and how she proved that kunoichi are just as good as male shinobi. Pairings Hayate/Yugao. Review or flame, don't matter. Critiques are welcome!


_This time _

_wonder what it feels like_

_to find the one in this life_

_the one we all dream of_

_but dreamings just not enough_

_so I'll be waiting for the real thing..._

Itachi wasn't sure what exactly was entailed in the Anbu Inaguaration Ceremony, but when he saw the table with threading needles, and several bottles of black dye, he understood. That, and all the Anbu he'd seen had the same tattoo on their body, gave him the knowledge he needed. He didn't necessarily want a tattoo on his left arm, but he decided it couldn't be helped right now. Uchiha Itachi resigned himself to it. The man decided to explain what was going to happen, because he could see that some of them didn't understand.

"I'm Neikaji Suimaru. The first part of your inaguaration involves getting a tattoo branded on your arm. Males, come to me...your mark will be on your left arm. Females," and here he gestured to Yugao and Karira, "will be tattoed by Kyoko, but you are getting it on your right arm. Reason being is because we need a way to tell ya'll apart. Anyways, Kyoko, begin the branding. Muhahaha!" He almost bellowed, not able to contain himself any longer. Yugao edged closer to Hayate, not too sure she wanted her Hayate-kun to go near the seemingly deranged man. To still her fears, the latter embraced her carefully and murmured quietly for her ears only,

"It's alright. Neikaji-san is a bit weird but I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Yugao."

She nodded and locked glances with Kirira, wondering who was going to go first right now. Kirira smiled and motioned at the chair, indicating that Yugao could be the first victim. The latter sighed resignedly before seating herself on the chair closest to Kyoko-san.

Due to the experience of the professionals, the process was over quickly, much to the relief of those done and those waiting for their tattoo. It was at this point that the squads they were joining showed up in the room. Sora glanced at Yugao, silently asking her to come over to them, and Yugao unconsciously complied. In other parts of the room, the other squads were doing the same thing with the others.

Yugao raised an eyebrow when Sora didn't say anything, and the older woman sighed quietly...almost, remorsefully, it seemed. In a monotone voice, she explained her reason for being here.

"Uzuki-san, based on the codenames we have available, yours is whatever you wish it to be. Since most of us choose names on our likeliness to animals, I recommend that. However, it's totally up to you. Choose Carefully, Uzuki-san."

Yugao nodded and deliberated for a while before choosing one that matched her style to a T. Without realizing it, she spoke her choice aloud and with an unconscious amount of pride infused in it.

"Lynx." She uttered quickly before she could change her mind. Nijiko and Kaireyo looked at her mysteriously, wondering if her choice had been accidental, or she was out to get their leader. Sora's eyes widened in pain and surprise before she quickly concealed her emotions, but the lack of self-control was evident to Yugao. Privately, she wanted to know why that had happened, but didn't ask.

Kaireyo and Nijiko stepped up to Sora's side and led her away quickly, so she wouldn't feel guilty about showing her emotions in public. Nijiko stopped at the base of the stairs when she remembered she shouldn't leave Yugao so confused. The former stepped back and walked back over to Uzuki-san.

"Yugao, I know for sure you weren't aware of the fact that there was an Anbu who had the name of Lynx. Anyways, that shinobi is deceased now...he died three months ago. However, to be blunt, he was emotionally attached to Hikari. Everytime she hears 'Lynx', she thinks of her lover...Nijaike Ameryu. The pain of his death is still a wound in her heart. Please, try to come up with another name if you can, although I know my request is selfish. I'm asking this for Hikari, because she's become like a part of my blood family, and I don't want to see her in pain. That's all. If you desire to keep the name, then do so. If you don't in light of what I've said, then find a new one. See ya tommorow."

Nijiko shunshin'd away before Yugao could say anything in her own defense, even if it was just to proclaim her ignorance. She deliberated for a while before choosing a new name. Leopard, she'd chosen now, to save Hikari from having to adress her as Lynx. She nodded acceptingly of the name before looking around the room curiously. The other four new recruits were choosing their own names. Yamato chose Otter, Itachi had Hawk, Kirira was Fox, and Hayate-kun was Moth. Then the five were dismissed until training, which would start tommorow morning.

Unbeknownst to them, the training master was none other than the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan. In short, they were in for a real surprise. Anyways, they decided to go home and relax for the rest of the day, so Itachi walked away to his home after he nodded at the rest of the group individually. Hayate silently waited for Tenzo and Kirira to depart before he invited Yugao to his house to watch a movie together. Hayate let Yugao pick a movie from his collection while he went into his kitchen and brought back some food. He sat down next to Yugao and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, while she leaned into him and watched the movie quietly. Soon enough she fell asleep, so Hayate carried her bridal style off to his room and pulled the covers back with one hand before laying her down and covering her with the blankets. He quietly walked to the doorway, but paused there to look upon Yugao.

From his window, the moon shone down and lit her face up, giving her a radiant beauty Hayate hadn't seen before, and probably wouldn't see again in his lifetime. Anyways, he was tempted to join her under the covers, but decided against it because he thought that she mightn't welcome the intrusion of her personal space. He smiled, caught up in the beauty of his moonflower, before shaking his head to dispel his thoughts and leaving the room to go sleep on the couch.

**The Next Morning**

Yugao stirred awake fitfully, and looked outside her window. When she saw the view, she frowned slightly. That was definitely not the view from her window. With a jolt, she suddenly remembered where she had gone last night. Hayate's house. Even though she knew he wouldn't do anything to her while she was asleep from long time experience of being his friend, Yugao couldn't help but feel defensive of herself.

She walked into the living room and saw Hayate draped across his couch. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, and would have taken a picture if she had a camera on her. She walked over to the kitchen area and looked quietly through the cupboards, occasionally glancing at Hayate's sleeping form to make sure the noise of her efforts wake him. After finding naught but bowls and plates in there, she turned to the fridge and considered looking around to find something to eat, and so sustain herself, but she felt uncomfortable and uneasy at the thought of doing so. Even with their relationship, this wasn't her home. Therefore, invading it would be wrong. Anyways, when she looked back at the couch, she discovered that Hayate's wasn't there anymore. With a frown, Yugao was somewhat dissapointed that she hadn't heard him rise. A few feet away, watching her, was the shinobi she was looking for. He paused briefly before leaping out and catching her in an embrace. She flinched in surprise, and tried to whirl so her back wasn't facing him anymore.

The reaction caused the floor to jump up at them, but before Yugao fell completely, Hayate moved so he ended up taking the fall. Since they were in now such an awkward position, Hayate took advantage to catch her lips with his own. With a sudden burst of and surprising level of passion, she returned the gesture. Hayate broke the kiss, and locked eyes with her before leaping to his feet and offering her a hand up. Yugao reached for it and he helped her up before looking at her very seriously.

"Yugao, I know it's a bit early to feel as commited as I do, but I have something to ask you. Will you marry me, Yugao? Just in case something happens to you or I, then the survivor would at least have that, ya know."

Author's Note:

Cliffhanger! Annoying, yet satisfying. Anyways, I know the second chapter is way shorter than the first, but I wanted to put this up now. Chapter 3 should be up within the next month for sure, unless I get absolutely no time to work on it. I plan to keep updating, even though my muse is slowly dying.

Please review, although I know this chapter was kind of lame. My muse wasn't around very often. Originally, I had planned his question to ask Yugao about her thoughts on starting a family with him, but I decided this would work out better.

Again, review. If you do that, then I'll write the third chapter up faster. Bye for now!

~ Kamide


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